Theoretical Coding in Grounded Theory Methodology

Cheri Ann Hernandez, RN, Ph.D., CDE

Abstract

When doing classic grounded theory research, one of the most
problematic areas, particularly for novice researchers, is the
theoretical coding process. The identification of theoretical codes
is essential to development of an integrated and explanatory
substantive theory when a researcher is using classic grounded
theory research methodology, but it is not a part of Straussian
qualitative data analysis as described by Strauss and Corbin. A
theoretical code is the relational model through which all
substantive codes/categories are related to the core category. Like
substantive codes, theoretical codes emerge through the data
analysis process, rather than being overlaid on the data through
the use of conjecture or ‘pet’ codes. The purpose of this article is to
provide an overview of the theoretical coding process and to
review the theoretical coding families and individual theoretical
codes that have been identified previously by Glaser.

Introduction

Grounded theory (GT) is a research methodology for
discovering theory in a substantive area. In many of his
publications, Glaser (1978, 1992, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2005) has
carefully delineated the various aspects of GT research
methodology, and has consistently elucidated areas that have
been difficult for published GT researchers, often illustrating the
erroneous assumptions or methodological errors found in such
research (Hernandez, 2008). One of the most problematic areas,
particularly for novice researchers, is the theoretical coding
process which includes finding the theoretical code that will
integrate the emerging substantive theory. Perhaps one of the
reasons for this confusion is that many researchers have not
understood that classic (also known as Glaserian) GT and
Straussian GT are two very different methods (Hernandez, p. 44)
and, as a result, many research articles list references from both
Glaser and Strauss as the methodological underpinning of their
studies. However, theoretical coding as described by Glaser
(1978) is not a part of Strauss’ approach to grounded theory data
analysis (Strauss & Corbin, 1998).

The purpose of classic GT research is to uncover the main
problem in a substantive area, as well as the resolution to this
problem. The resolution is known as the core category. The final
theoretical code is the one that emerges, through the coding
process, and serves to integrate all of the substantive categories
with the core category. The approach to data in classic GT
methodology consists of two main processes. First, during the
open coding process, the data are broken down into substantive
codes (either in vivo codes or sociological constructs) as interview,
field notes and/or other written data are coded in a line by line
manner and incidents are compared with one another, for
similarities and differences (Glaser, 1978) until the core category
is found. Then, as selective coding results in the saturation of all
of the categories through theoretical sampling, these substantive
codes are built up into a substantive theory as they are integrated
into a cohesive structure by the emergent theoretical code. The
purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the theoretical
coding process and review the theoretical coding families and
individual theoretical codes that have been identified previously
by Glaser (1978, 1998, 2005) as being relevant for grounded
theory research.

Understanding Theoretical Codes in Classic GT

In any GT study, several theoretical codes may emerge but
eventually, through ongoing coding and memoing, one theoretical
code is chosen as the theoretical code for the study. A GT study’s
theoretical code is the relational model through which all
substantive codes/categories are related to the core category. In
GT methodology, “Substantive codes conceptualize the empirical
substance of the area of research. Theoretical codes conceptualize
how the substantive codes may relate to each other as hypotheses
to be integrated into the theory” (Glaser, 1978, p. 55). Substantive
codes break down (fracture the data) while theoretical codes
“weave the fractured story back together again” (Glaser, 1978, p.
72) into “an organized whole theory (Glaser, 1998, p. 163). The
relationship, therefore, between substantive and theoretical codes
is that theoretical codes “theoretically render an empirical
pattern” (Glaser, 1978 p. 74). Another way of saying this is that
“Theoretical codes implicitly conceptualize how the substantive
codes will relate to each other as interrelated multivariate
hypotheses in accounting for resolving the main concern” (Glaser,
1998, p. 163). Theoretical codes must not be preconceived, rather
they are emergent in the data, and therefore, “earn their way into
the theory as much as substantive codes” (Glaser, 1998, p. 164).

Coding processes for substantive codes and theoretical codes
are not two isolated or disconnected processes. Both types of
coding occur simultaneously, to a certain extent, but the
researcher “will focus relatively more on substantive coding when
discovering codes within the data, and more on theoretical coding
when theoretically sorting and integrating his memos” (Glaser,
1978, p. 56). Without substantive codes, theoretical codes are
empty abstractions (Glaser, p. 72). The importance of the
substantive codes cannot be over-emphasized. If the substantive
codes do not fit the data, then the theoretical codes that relate
these substantive codes are probably irrelevant to the substantive
area: The researcher has only a contrived theory that is not
grounded in the data.

Theoretical codes are either implicit or explicit but, whether
implicit or explicit, their purpose is to integrate the substantive
theory (Glaser, 2005, p. 11). Theoretical codes from the Process
Family are often explicit and easily identified by researchers
when study participants talk about changing over time or about
going through stages, phases or transitions. However, other
theoretical codes are more implicit. These more implicit
theoretical codes can be uncovered as a theoretically sensitive
researcher continues coding and memoing, or through observing
participants act in ways that are contrary to what they have
espoused in interviews. This latter example would imply that
vaguing or properlining (from the Cultural Representation
Family) is occurring.

Theoretical codes are flexible – “they are not mutually
exclusive, they overlap considerably… [and] one family can spawn
another” (Glaser, 1978, p. 73). The overlap in theoretical codes
can be seen in Table 1 by comparing the individual theoretical
codes within the coding families that have been placed next to
each other. For example, there is overlap between the Process
and Basics coding families, with the basic processes frequently
having stages, phases, transitions, sequencing and so on, all of
which are theoretical codes found under the Process Family.

Over the past three decades, Glaser has identified many
theoretical codes and theoretical coding families that can emerge
in grounded theory: 18 in Theoretical Sensitivity (Glaser, 1978), 9
in Doing Grounded Theory (Glaser, 1998), and 23 in Theoretical
Coding (Glaser, 2005). See Table 1 for a summary of these
theoretical codes. This table has been organized so that the
theoretical coding families and codes, identified by Glaser in
three of his books, have been positioned next to the coding
families to which they are closely related or a part of. However,
Glaser has been adamant that there are potentially many more
theoretical codes that might emerge in GT research; therefore,
the theoretical codes found in Table 1 do not comprise an
exhaustive list. [please see PDF version for all tables and graphs]

Researchers learning to do grounded theory need to be aware
that seasoned GT researchers may speak about theoretical coding
(a verb denoting the process of finding theoretical codes through
emergence) as the process they use to find a theoretical code (a
noun denoting the actual type of relationship between two or
more substantive codes or between the core category and all other
substantive codes). Theoretical coding can occur throughout the
GT process, whether it is during open coding or selective coding
(the two major phases of the GT methodology) because theoretical
coding is simply detecting the relationships between two or more
categories. Several theoretical codes can be discovered as coding
proceeds during one GT study. However, discovery of the ultimate
theoretical code that integrates the substantive theory will
probably occur during the selective coding phase, that is, after the
core category has emerged.

As previously stated, in any GT study there can be several
emergent theoretical codes because a theoretical code simply
specifies the relationship between two or more substantive codes.
Theoretical codes from several theoretical coding families may
emerge as being relevant in specifying the emergent relationship
between categories (known as major categories, codes, or
variables) and subcategories (known as smaller categories, codes,
or variables), and even between the core category and the subcore
(major) categories and their properties. However, the theoretical
code that ultimately emerges as the one that most fully integrates
the substantive theory is one that specifies the overall
relationship between the core category and all other categories.
When more than one theoretical code can fit the data, then the
researcher must make a choice but this decision will be “grounded
in one of the many useful fits” (Glaser, 1978, p. 72). The following
example will illustrate this point. Hernandez (1991, 1996)
discovered the substantive theory of integration in her research
with adults with Type 1 diabetes. Integration was the core
category to which all other substantive codes were related
through a basic social process (a theoretical code from the Basics
Family). However, the first phase of the theory of integration was
named “having diabetes” (major category) and the smaller
categories related to “having diabetes” as strategies (theoretical
code from the Strategy Family) which helped to prevent the
person who had diabetes from moving into the second phase, “the
turning point” (major category). In addition, it was observed that
as participants with diabetes moved through the three phases of
integration (having diabetes, turning point, science of one) there
was an increase in the level (theoretical code from the Degree
Family) of integration. In the end, a basic social process emerged
as the final (overall) theoretical code for the substantive theory of
integration because of its fit (i.e., it was able to show the
relationship of all of the categories to the core category of
integration) and thus provided the best overall fit for the data.
For example, it was discovered that an individual with diabetes
could remain in the turning point phase (second phase) for a
period of time but later revert back to the having diabetes phase
and this represented the best fit with the basic social process
theoretical code rather than the degree theoretical code.

A major characteristic of the theoretical code for a GT study
is that it must be emergent through the data, not preconceived
(or overlaid on the data) by the researcher. Unfortunately, many
researchers have a ‘pet’ theoretical code that they apply to all
data, rather than remaining open and waiting for emergence.
When viewing research data through the blinders of a pet
category, there is a danger of systematically ignoring important
data that are relevant to the substantive theory but do not fit
with this pet code. Emergence is always better than conjecture
(Glaser, 2005, p. 42), therefore theory generated through ‘pet code
overlay’ may not be one that adequately explains the resolution of
the problem experienced by participants in the substantive area.

Theoretical codes are important to grounded theory because
they potentiate its explanatory power and increase its
completeness and relevance, resulting in a grounded theory with
greater scope and parsimony (Glaser, 2005, p. 70). Without
theoretical codes, the substantive codes become mere themes to
describe (rather than explain) a substantive area; the descriptive
thematic approach is characteristic of qualitative research
methods such as phenomenology or ethnography but not Classic
GT.

Ways to Enhance Researcher Ability to ‘See’ the
Emergence of Theoretical Codes

Some researchers mistakenly believe that core categories
generate theoretical codes (Glaser, 2001, p. 210). They do not.
Theoretical codes emerge from the data as a theoretically
sensitive researcher analyzes the data, through coding, memoing
and sorting the memos, or possibly through developing a
schematic model (conceptual map) of the substantive codes.
Several strategies for eliciting theoretical codes are described in
the section below.

1. Theoretical Sensitivity. The researcher’s theoretical
sensitivity enhances his or her ability to recognize the theoretical
codes as they emerge during coding and memoing. Knowledge of
the various theoretical coding families will help to sensitize
researchers (Glaser, 1998, p. 175), making the researcher
“sensitive to rendering explicitly the subtleties of the
relationships in his data…It sensitizes him to the myriad of
implicit integrative possibilities in the data” (Glaser, 1978, pp. 72
& 73). Therefore, “the goal of a GT researcher is to develop a
repertoire of as many theoretical codes as possible…the more
theoretical codes the researcher learns the more he has the
variability of seeing them emerge and fitting them to the theory.
They empower his ability to generate theory and keep its
conceptual level” (Glaser, 2005, p. 11). Researchers are
encouraged to read literature in any field to learn about other
theoretical codes (Glaser, 2005, p. 42). In this way, researchers
build an understanding and repertoire of many potential
theoretical codes; this will allow emergence of the theoretical
codes rather than always reverting to a cherished ‘pet’ code that a
researcher forces or overlays on the data. Researchers are advised
to be familiar with the theoretical codes in Table 1 so that they
can recognize them when they see them in the data they are
coding.

2. In Vivo Codes. An in vivo code is one of the two types of
substantive codes that emerge as data are coded during the open
coding process, and these in vivo codes can point to possible
theoretical codes. In vivo codes “tend to be the behaviors or
processes which explain how the basic problem is resolved or
processed” (Glaser, 1978, p. 70) and, therefore, “can imply
theoretical codes; for example, cultivating implies looking into
consequences since anticipating consequences [a theoretical code]
is why people cultivate” (Glaser, 1978, p. 70).

3. Memoing and Sorting Memos. Writing memos will force
researchers to theoretically code (Glaser, 1978, p. 85) to
determine how a particular category is related to other categories
that have been discovered already. Researchers’ ideas that are
developed through memoing include “hypotheses about
connections between categories and/or their properties” (Glaser,
1978, p. 84) and thus begin “to integrate these connections with
clusters of other categories to generate the theory” (Glaser, 1978,
p 84). In other words, memos bring out the relationships (i.e., the
theoretical codes) among the various categories and their
properties. “Memos serve as a means of revealing and relating by
theoretically coding the properties of the substantive codes”
(Glaser, 1978, p. 84). The memoing process helps the researcher
determine which of the theoretical codes provides the best
relational model to integrate the substantive theory because it is
during memoing that different emerging theoretical codes are
discussed and tried out as possible ways of organizing the
grounded theory (Glaser, 2003, p. 31).

The major process through which a grounded theory is
written up, is through sorting of the memos that have been
written throughout the study process. During sorting, the
researcher places each memo onto the pile to which it belongs,
based on the substantive code (s) to which it refers. According to
Glaser (2005), about 90% of the theoretical codes found in a study
are identified through the sorting of mature memos (p. 42).

4. Models. Glaser (1978) identified the development of a
model as one way to theoretically code; using this method, the
researcher models the “theory pictorially by either a linear model
or a property space” (p. 81). The researcher writes the
substantive concepts (codes) on a piece of paper in circles or
squares and draws solid or broken lines between them to
demonstrate the relationships between and among all of the
concepts. However, Glaser recommended that these models be
used with constraint and caution: researchers might be tempted
to deduce relationships through logical elaboration, rather than
eliciting them from the data by emergence (induction). This error
may derail the emergence of a good substantive theory because
deduced relationships may not be relevant (Glaser, p. 82).

Researcher Uses of Theoretical Codes

Glaser (1978) identified four general uses of theoretical
codes. The two major uses will help researchers integrate and
write-up their substantive theories. The last two purposes are for
critiquing GT studies and for grant writing. These four uses
specified by Glaser are: 1) helping the researcher maintain a
conceptual level when writing about concepts and the
relationships among them; 2) preventing researchers from getting
bogged down in the data through endless illustrations; 3)
critiquing other researchers’ grounded theory reports; and 4)
when writing a grant proposal that forces the researcher to
preconceive possibilities prior to the start of the research and,
therefore, before the researcher knows anything about the data to
be collected (Glaser, p. 73). An important dictum when talking
about a GT or writing it up, is to talk or write substantive codes
but think theoretical codes (Glaser, 1998, p. 164). The theory of
integration (Hernandez, 1991, 1996) can be used to illustrate this
dictum. Whenever the author writes about the theory of
integration, she writes about the substantive codes within each of
the three phases. Therefore, she acknowledges that there are
three phases (theoretical code of basic social process forms the
Basics coding family) but the focus of the write-up is on the
explanation of the substantive codes within these phases.

Conclusion

The identification of theoretical codes is essential to
development of an integrated and explanatory substantive GT.
The theoretical code that emerges to integrate the substantive
theory is not, itself, the core category; rather it is the conceptual
model of the relationship of the core category to its properties and
to the other (non-core) categories. It is this relational model that
integrates the substantive categories into a theory.
Preconception, through conjecture or overlay of pet theoretical
codes, will derail the emergence of a credible substantive
grounded theory. Just as theoretically sensitive GT researchers
are able to recognize sociological constructs in the data, so to will
these researchers be able to detect the emergent theoretical codes
as they follow GT methodology and when they have built up a
repertoire of relevant theoretical codes. Although, several
theoretical codes may emerge in any one GT study, the
theoretical code that is most relevant will be the one that
captures the relationships between all essential categories and
the core category (i.e., provides the best fit for the data).

Author

Cheri Ann Hernandez, RN, Ph.D., CDE
Associate Professor
Faculty of Nursing
University of Windsor, ON
Canada
Email: cherih@uwindsor.ca

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